Tokyo: Are you even a proper lawyer?

As she spoke, Ayaka Miura boldly pulled down the neckline of her already revealing sundress, exposing more of her fair skin.

At the same time, her red lips lightly brushed against Akiyama Masashi's neck and even his Adam's apple.

One hand then lingered along the lines of Masashi Akiyama's abdomen, ambiguously exploring downwards.

When her fingertips touched the firm, well-defined abdominal muscles beneath her shirt, Ayaka Miura's eyes widened in surprise, and she chuckled.

"Oh my, Mr. Akiyama, I never expected you to look so refined, yet have such a... well-built physique! You must work out a lot, right? It really makes me... curious..."

Just as her fingers were about to probe into a more dangerous area, and Akiyama Masashi was preparing to subtly push her away...

"Isn't this Attorney Akiyama? What a coincidence."

A familiar female voice with a mature charm rang out behind Masashi Akiyama.

Masashi Akiyama paused, and Ayaka Miura subconsciously released her grip, both turning to look at the same time.

There stood a few steps away, languidly, Takagi Mikoto, the capable female lawyer who had dismissed Akiyama Masashi from his original firm.

She wasn't wearing a stiff business suit today, but a burgundy velvet dress, and her right arm was affectionately around a handsome young man who looked to be in his early twenties.

The boy nestled close to Mikoto Takagi with a timid, dependent look in his eyes.

Mikoto Takagi's gaze swept back and forth between Masashi Akiyama and Ayaka Miura, lingering for a moment on the latter's still-untied collar and Masashi Akiyama's slightly wrinkled shirt.

"What, you're not welcome?"

Without waiting for Masashi Akiyama's reply, she pulled the boy along and sat down in the empty seat at his table as if she were the hostess.

She beckoned to the waiter, and without even glancing at the drinks menu, deftly ordered two expensive cocktails with hefty price tags. Then, she pulled a box of slender cigarettes from her elegant evening bag and skillfully lit one up.

The boy next to her immediately and obediently took out a lighter and lit it for her.

"Hoo..." Takagi Mikoto took a deep breath and slowly exhaled a pale gray smoke.

Smoke swirled and rose before her beautiful face, blurring her features and leaving only her bright red lips visible.

"I heard you've landed another big case recently." Takagi Mikoto, a cigarette dangling from her lips, looked at Akiyama Masashi through the smoke. "The Nakajima family, right?"

Masashi Akiyama nodded, without denying it.

Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Ayaka Miura tactfully moved a little further away, but her gaze remained fixed on Masashi Akiyama.

"The Nakajima family..." Takagi Mikoto flicked her cigarette ash. "They're a tough nut to crack. Their younger brother, Nakajima Kohei, seems harmless on the surface, but he's actually very ruthless and has deep roots in the ward council. That's why I never take civil cases, especially those involving local power and family scandals. Troublesome, risky, and the returns are uncertain. I only take company mergers and acquisitions, equity disputes... clean, efficient, and lucrative."

As she spoke, she stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray, leaned forward slightly, and looked directly into Masashi Akiyama's eyes behind his glasses.

"Honestly, Akiyama, you don't seem like the kind of person who gets carried away with passion and enjoys punishing evil. What's the matter this time? That dead female student, who wasn't related to you at all. Or... have you finally found something more exciting than making money?"

Akiyama Masashi met her gaze and remained silent for a few seconds. "There's no particular reason. I just feel that sometimes, besides fighting for the fame and fortune that we should fight for, perhaps... we should also do some things that lawyers should really do."

"What should a lawyer really be doing?" Takagi Mikoto asked, as if she'd heard something amusing. "Like what? Justice? Fairness? Compassion?"

She shook her head. "Attorney Qiushan, we're both lawyers. After so many years in this industry, we should know better than anyone that the law doesn't represent justice. It's just a set of rules that can be interpreted, exploited, and even distorted. To use it to claim justice is naive."

"That's right." To Takagi Mikoto's surprise, Akiyama Masashi nodded in agreement.

He raised his glass and looked at Mikoto Takagi across from him. "The law never represents justice, and the law is never fair."

"However, the decision of where this tool ultimately points, and whether it can infinitely approach justice and fairness, should not be made by those who created it, nor by the state apparatus that executes it, but rather by..."

"Lawyers who use it."

"What I want to do," Masashi Akiyama continued, "is not a partner of justice, nor an embodiment of fairness. But... a judge."

"The judge?"

Mikoto Takagi repeated the word, staring at Masashi Akiyama for a long time, so long that the boy beside her began to shift uncomfortably.

Finally, she chuckled softly.

"The judges of Tokyo? Sounds...quite ambitious."

Her smile was neither mocking nor admiring; she seemed to have genuinely come here to relax, happened to run into Masashi Akiyama, and exchanged a few words.

Mikoto Takagi released her grip on the boy, then stood up, pushed aside Ayaka Miura who was sitting next to Masashi Akiyama looking somewhat bewildered, and sat down directly next to Masashi Akiyama herself.

Under the hazy light and with Ayaka Miura's somewhat jealous gaze, Mikoto Takagi extended her index finger and gently dabbed the lipstick on her full red lips with her fingertip.

Then, she raised her red-stained finger and slid it down along the outline of Akiyama Masashi's lips in an extremely ambiguous manner.

Mikoto Takagi's fingertips traced her chin, grazed her Adam's apple, and finally rested on Masashi Akiyama's chest, where she then lightly and teasingly rubbed with her fingertips.

After doing all this, she withdrew her hand, stood up, and looked down at Akiyama Masashi.

"Then, I wish our... future judge, Attorney Masashi Akiyama... all the best..."

"A successful start ensures lasting victory."

After saying that, she didn't linger. She pulled the waiting boy up again, turned gracefully, and disappeared into the shadows of the club.

After Takagi Mikoto left, Miura Ayaka immediately clung to her again, her eyes filled with obvious dissatisfaction and jealousy, looking at the almost invisible red mark on Akiyama Masashi's chest.

She reached out, wanting to wipe away the unsightly mark with a wet wipe.

"No need."

Masashi Akiyama reached out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from moving.

His gaze wasn't on her, but rather fixed on his own chest.

There, on the inside of the suit jacket, in the pocket close to the chest, was a small, long, hard object.

It was something that Takagi Mikoto had quietly inserted when she approached, using that suggestive kneading motion.

Masashi Akiyama guessed that it might be what he had been searching for all along.

evidence.